A Man's Best Friend - ID# 38

Homewood-Flossmoor

Division: A

Dramatic Narrative

Entry Description

A story of a man, his dog, and a friend.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 3/10 9:55 am - SOUND Your music choice was well done and timed with your story (especially around 1:10) Great job of making it all fit together. It is hard not to like your video because of all the warm feelings from the movie Up that come to mind when hearing this music –that played to your advantage in helping your audience like your video. It would have been nice to pepper in some natural sound here and there, paws on the floor, food being poured in bowl, etc. STORY Sweet story, and easy to grasp. I am a sucker for finding the good in people kind of stories, I appreciated something that didn’t focus on something dark and sinister. Thanks for restoring my faith in students. CAMERA / VISUALS Because there was no dialogue you had to use your camera to tell the story, and you did however I would have loved even more diversity of shots, close ups that force your audience to see and feel the emotion. On wide cover shots it isn’t always easy to pick out the most important part of the scene because of other distractors. Loved the parallel shots with the drone at the beginning and the end – nicely done! EDITING Your video had a good flow, and as I said before you did a great job of timing your plot points to the mood of the music without making me feel like you were stretching your story or scenes. However. I would have loved to seen a pattern of the love this man has for his dog - so several shots of him walking down the sidewalk (or one long one that morphs through the seasons) but I need to see the smile on his face that he is not doing it because he has to, but because he enjoys it – your cover shot of him waving didn’t really communicate that emotion. Great inclusion of the man with the picture but it seemed to initially be in the wrong spot. For example if I just got a new Ferrari I am not going to hold a picture of the Ferrari in my hand while I am standing on the driveway and the Ferrari is right there, same when he was petting the dog I would guess his focus would be on the real thing, the picture should have come up when the dog was gone, and that is all the man had left of the joy from that dog (like you did at 2:43). OVERALL Very likeable and positive story, thank you.
• 3/9 8:00 pm - Good, simple (silent film). Some good camera work, but no nat sound. Camera settings are crisp-edged, rather than filmic (is that what you were going for?) Drone shots work. Interior lights would have improved some shots inside. Because there is no dialogue, this is intrinsically a much more simple treatment than making a film with a complex sound design and dialogue, both technically, and narratively.
• 3/6 2:50 pm - Camera work was strong overall, nice use of drone in the intro shot, nice variety of angles to convey the perspective of the dog. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the 60 fps setting on the camera. I feel like it makes your project look too much like realistic video versus cinematic or filmic. Also, the camera has a consistently longer depth of field, which is more associated with video and television than with cinema or film. Nice use of the drone flying away at the end. Lighting seemed to just be ambient or available lighting, which worked for most of the story because you shot in daylight. But some of the interior scenes were dark; you would benefit greatly from the addition of light. Story was simple but enjoyable. So…this brings us to sound. You made a choice to make a silent film (basically). With the absence of dialogue and nat sound, you rely 100% on your music. Your musical choice was of course linked to a story about loss and overcoming changes in our lives (Up?), but its copyrighted. So in a way, using that very familiar music for YOUR film takes away from my experience of your film as its own piece. Without that music, would your film have had the same emotional draw?

Judge 1

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Judge 2

Positives: The story was easy to understand and had a satisfying and emotional ending. The use of visual cues throughout (the jar of money, dog not eating, marker on the box) conveyed story beats well.

Improvements: The kid immediately knowing that the dog had been put down could be strengthened (the owner could have taken the dog anywhere, and why did he put the leash back in the trunk?). The use of the music from “Up” was a bit manipulative and distracting… honestly, I was thinking of Carl and Ellie the whole time. I’d recommend using original or less famous music so viewers don’t associate it with a pretty legendary, emotional film sequence.

Judge 3

Positives: Great visual storytelling. It all feels pretty simple, but that's a testament to the good planning you put in. I also like the way you bookend it with the drone shots. Puts a nice bit of polish on it.

Improvements: Using such a recognizable music track cuts both ways. On the one hand, it's perfect. On the downside, it's hard not to think about Up the whole time.

Judge 4

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